I continue with my perhaps-senseless activity of documenting old stuff.

This is the draft about the 180/181 oscilloscopes:

Any contribution/correction welcome.

Thank you for doing the work on this. I was working for -hp- when the 180 came out. It was almost a world beater but not quite.
I suppose I am more oriented toward "old stuff" because I am old.

--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles
WB6KBL
SKCC 19998

Some notes from my repairs;
Some of the metal film resistors used in the voltage divider/feedback circuits in the PSU and the horizontal amplifier can drift high in value, or go open.
The 4-071 transistors used in the older scopes do go bad occasionally, sometimes they also fail intermittently & drive me up the wall, trying to figure out which is to blame.

Double check the plug-in connector pitch against the Tek scopes you referred to, they are a different pitch as far as I know, the HP scopes used the Amphenol Blue Ribbon or McMurdo Red Range with barrier polarization, Tek used dowel pins for polarization, buying the wrong type for extender cables could be an expensive mistake.

There was a warning of PSU over-voltage faults causing damage to some plug-ins, testing & repairing the PSU without the plug-ins installed is recommended.

The dates for the storage scopes need checking, the 141A (round CRT) is first seen in the 1966/67 catalog, the 181A doesn't appear until the 1968 catalog.

The 141T mainframe you have is a late one, with the oscilloscope beam finder switch & calibrator removed, intended for the spectrum analyzer plug-ins..
Something should be added to inform of how easy it is to damage the storage CRTs in the 141 & 181 series as explained here;

The newer timebase plug-ins such as the 1825A, can suffer from the plastic edge of the rotary switches cutting through the PCB traces, I've seen this in other scopes, such as a 1715A.

The 182A doesn't have the internal flood gun in the CRT, it uses external lamps for illumination, later 182C & 182T use a CRT with the flood gun, it's slightly longer as a result.

David

Gianna this is incredible!? I'm currently working on a 182T with a 8557A plug-in.? Can I be greedy and ask for a Spectrum Analyzer section for this beautiful document?

Hi Friends,

very grateful for you appreciation and contributes. I update the doc and tell you when done.

It’s wonderful to know that I am not the only one romantic mad… ????

开云体育

@Richard: I am old too… ?

Excellent work you've done, with the 180 series additions to your book.

One thing I should mention, the quote from the UK vintage radio forum post is not mine, but from David (aka Radio Wrangler), I'm not sure if he posts on here or not, he used to work designing test gear at the South Queensferry site in Scotland.
The post about the sadly ruined 141T in post #5 was mine, it was seen at a local radio sale, the trader that bought it clearly knew nothing about it, they were only interested in max profit and advertised it on ebay with the intensity set to destroy the storage mesh. Sadly not the first time I've seen people do this, hence why I try to mention it in 141 & 181 related posts.

David

Gianni,

I downloaded the full HP book.? I only browsed through it and read the intro, and this is truly a masterpiece.? Can't wait to read the whole thing.??

Not including their PCs, I first got introduced to their lab equipment as an analytical chemist working with their gas chromatographs and HPLCs.? They were IMO the best of all the manufacturers (Shimadzu, Waters, etc).? Just like their electronic test equipment, they made ease of use and serviceability the top priority.? It wasn't until I got more interested in electronics that I got acquainted with their electronic test equipment and they quickly became my favorite once again.??

But thanks to your book, I now know that HP had a profound effect on me at a much younger age with their involvement in the making of "Fantasia"! That was a favorite of my siblings and I at very young age.? Very interesting fact I wasn't aware of.

Are you printing this book?? Anyway I can buy it???

Thank you again for the amazing work!

-Frank

Hi,

@David: I will rearrange the text to reflect what you said. I post another topic about the 8443A power supply, hoping in your help… ?
@Frank: you make me happy! No, currently only the Tektronix book is printed by Elektor. Maybe that they are printing other books, I hope.

I am completing the HP book (for now, it is an endless work…) adding new instrument. I am now stuck on the 8443A (I make another post so that can be found by others)